Life as a VCR repairman in 2012

Steven Soderberg, quoted in Moviegoer:

A lot of people who think, “It’s just a double click—what difference does it make?” are going to find that out when they try to go into a field in which they are creating stuff and their survival depends on people buying their stuff. They’re going to have a moment of, “Oh, s—t. The reason I don’t have a career is because people are doing what I was doing when I was young.

This quote helps me understand why it’s so painful for the media industry to adjust to change forced on them by the internet. It comes from the the idea that the movie/music/publishing industry will exist in the future, so we must continue to find ways to support them is a very limited way of thinking.

No industry is permanent and things often get broken during change. Ask typewriter manufacturers. Or VCR repairmen. Or the entire postal industry. It’s unpleasant because sometimes we have to see things disappearing before we can be certain about what will appear after. This kind of pessimism is dangerous because it distorts people’s view of the net value of change. In this case, you’ll be far more likely to look back and say “oh shit” about your job because you missed what was appearing, not because you didn’t care enough for what was disappearing.